


Strawberry Lipstick state of mind

by arianatwycross



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Harry Potter - Freeform, Head Boy and Girl, Lemon, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Porn With Plot, Smut, harry styles lyrics, jily, shared dorm, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:53:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29499861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianatwycross/pseuds/arianatwycross
Summary: After spending her 6th year in a state of depression after her mothers death and her sister’s rejection, Lily spends her summer finding herself, after meeting a girl that was attending the nearby college, Lily finds herself changing into the person she thought she wanted to be. A confident, no-nonsense girl that just wanted to have fun.Coming back to Hogwarts as Head girl, Lily shocks James as she walks onto the train with a sense of confidence she hadn't had in years. Her head held high, and a devilish smirk that makes James shiver.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a new Marauders era fic I'm excited about! It's going to have a very easy-fun plot with a lot of smut. I've always loved reading about how James and Lily get together and I felt the need to explore Lily more. I feel like a lot of teens go through a time when they experiment with how they feel about themselves/trying to be someone they're not and I think Lily losing her parents would spur this on! 
> 
> So I hope you like it and make sure you let me know what you think! :)

Lily took a deep breath and stepped forward, pushing her trolley into the mass of students that were currently saying their hello’s to their friends on platform 9 and ¾. In that moment, she tried to remember what Ella told her before she left. 

“Never let people think for a minute that you couldn't totally take them down” 

So she flicked her dark cherry red hair off her shoulder and strutted confidently towards the train. 

“Merlin, Evans. Your hair has gotten so long!” 

Lily turned to her side to find her friend Marlene McKinnon grinning broadly at her. She laughed and pulled her into a hug. Marlene paused for a second, her blue eyes inspecting Lily before nodding. Lily ignored the way the look made her feel like she was two years old and instead continued pushing her trolley towards the train. Depositing their luggage, they clutched each others arms and headed to their usual compartment. 

Mary MacDonald, Lily’s best friend, was already curled up in one corner, her small nose in a book. 

“Hey Mary” Lily greeted, squeezing herself closely next to Mary and nudging her knees. Mary was a small girl, her thin brown hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, making her face look skinny and too young. 

“Lils! Oh my gosh, look at you! You look amazing!” Mary gushed, shoving her book aside and gripping Lily by the shoulders. 

Lily chuckled. 

“How have you been Macca?” Lily asked, desperate for the attention to be elsewhere. Lily still wasn’t used to the attention that her new look had brought her. 

“Great! We just got back from Monaco last week. Meet the fittest guy…” Mary blushed slightly but Lily and Marlene gasped excitedly. 

As they gossiped about Mary’s first ever romantic escapade, Lily felt herself relaxing into her old self again. Maybe it was just being around her old friends, or maybe it was just being around magic in general, but she hadn’t felt so calm in months. 

Listening to Mary gush about her first time with her handsome French man, Lily couldn't help but wince as she remembered her fumbled and forced relations over the summer. 

Noticing Lily’s wince, Marlene expertly diverted the conversation to Lily. 

“So innocent-eyes Mac here has finally lost her virginity-” Mary rolled her eyes at this, “what about you Lily? Meet any brooding blokes in Surry over the summer?”

Lily absent-mindedly started to scratch her blunt fingernails on her thighs, the denim causing the feeling to vibrate and numb the tips of her fingers. 

“Well Chris avoided me all summer, but I met a few through my friend Ella” Lily blushed. 

Marlene rubbed her hands together excitedly, this was just the type of gossip she thrived on. 

“Few?!” 

“I suppose you could say I experimented a little over the summer, Ella’s all about free love and what not” Lily explained, shrugging her shoulders. 

Mary smiled knowingly, and Marlene clapped her hands. 

“Yes Evans! I’ve been hoping to coax this side out of you for years! I knew you had it in you. Who is this Ella and how can I thank her?” 

Lily rolled her eyes but keenly explained how she met Ella and how she spent the last month or so. 

Ella was a few years older than Lily, studying at the local college in her hometown and the very picture of what Lily aspired to be. She wasn’t normally one to follow someone around or be influenced so easily, but after the year Lily had, she felt herself numbly compelled to be Ella’s prodigy. 

Ella was a blonde, surf-esce, sunny girl. She was enigmatic, beautiful and beyond-confident. She loved people, she loved dancing, she loved life and Lily wanted that too. 

At first, Ella had to physically push Lily out of her comfort zone and Lily would often squirm and laugh awkwardly at the situations Ella tumbled her into. But after a few weeks, Lily found herself growing confident. It started to leak out of her, she found herself starting a joke and loving the way everyone listened to her and then it went from the way she flicked her hair at the right time when she was flirting with a guy and the guy almost drooling at the sight. Then her confidence seemed to spill out, gushing, she was excited to wear crop tops that hugged her growing boobs, tight jeans that accentuated her long legs and perky bum. She reveled in the way, Ella’s friends asked for her opinion and pulled her along first when they sneaked into a club. These kids were older than her, more mature but ultimately more free than she had ever been. 

Lily was gushing about how rad Ella was, when Mary shuffled in her seat and accidentally knocked Lily’s shoulder. The knock pulled her from her dizzy excitement in relaying her fun summer and she gasped. 

“Bugger, I’m going to be late for the prefects meeting and I'm head girl!” Lily exclaimed, rushing out of her seat. 

“There she is!” Mary chuckled, “thought for a minute, we lost head girl Lily and was replaced with hippy Lily” 

Lily ignored that and instead, rushed out and ran to the prefects compartment. 

She rammed into the closed door and immediately found it empty. She gulped down a sigh and went to work in writing down the agenda before charming it to copy onto spare parchment for everyone else. 

She still had ten minutes until the meeting started but the head boy should have already been here helping her set up. She willed herself to remember Ella and how she would react. Lily had been practicing her patience over the summer, one thing that Ella despised about Lily was her inability to let things go and relax. 

So Lily instead of fretting, pushed the parchment away from her and climbed out of her seat. She stretched leisurely, reaching her arms above her head and groaning as her muscles tightened in that almost orgasmically satisfying way. 

James was late. The boys insisted that he join them in their first prank of the year. It made him late to his first meeting as head boy and he knew that whoever was head girl, he would probably have to flirt his way out of being scolded. 

He pushed into the door to the prefects compartment and was thoroughly surprised when he found one Lily Evans, moaning in a way that made his whole body shiver, and stretching her long arms above her head. She was wearing a red and white striped halter neck top and dark blue flared jeans and James couldn’t take his eyes off the lovely bare golden-skin that was her stomach. Her top had ridden up in her stretch and James just couldn’t believe how fit Lily had gotten over the summer. 

He always thought Lily was beautiful but this Lily, in front of him, was another level of beauty. Her cherry red hair was longer and fuller, her skin was more golden, and he could finally appreciate the body that was always swamped under her uniform. 

“Potter?” Lily asked, snapping him from his lust-filled coma. 

“Right. Yeah. Evans…” he tried to string together a sentence but he still couldn’t get the image of her bare, golden skin out of his head. 

“You’re head boy?” she asked, shocked. 

“Right yes, and I’m guessing your head girl?” he smirked, plenty pleased with this arrangement. 

He was dreaming.

She laughed. 

He wasn’t expecting that. He was expecting her usual scoff and a comment about him being late. 

But she laughed, and not in a mocking way but in a way in which she was truly amused. It was a happy laugh and the sound made his stomach swirl. 

Her laugh faded into a chuckle and he watched as she picked up a pile of parchment and shoved in his hands. 

“Stop gawking and look over the agenda” she smirked. 

He gawked more. 

Who was she? Where was Lily Evans?

  
She should be yelling at him for even looking at her. 

“I’m going to quickly change into my uniform, we still have five minutes until the meeting starts” she commented. 

He watched her leave and he was altogether very sad that he wouldn’t see her in those threads again. 

He did get a nice view of her ass in those blue tight jeans as she left though, and he grinned. 

  
  


As their first perfect meeting of the year powered on, James couldn’t help but ponder what was so different about Lily. She was now in her uniform, her robes draped across her shoulders and hiding her figure. Yes, her hair was longer, her skin tanned, but it was her eyes that stirred something in him. Her green eyes were fuller now, like they were spilling with life and gleaming with excitement. He knew being head girl was something that she was thrive in but it was so odd seeing her so bouncy. 

Last year had been hard on Lily, he knew that. He was close friends with Marlene and Marlene had mentioned that her mother had passed away at the beginning of her fifth year and Lily wasn’t coping well. In fact, he remembers Marlene being frightfully stressed about the way Lily was acting towards the end of the year. After Marlene’s outburst, he had kept a closer eye on Lily. He always kept an eye on her anyway but this time he made sure to watch her eat, made sure she wasn’t left alone in the common room for too long, and made sure she wasn’t wandering the halls at night. 

As she announced the idea of a sign up sheet for patrols, her hands crossed her chest and he watched as she scratched her fingers across one forearm. This was the first sign of Lily being anxious since he saw her. 

“We’ve been told that we now need to patrol in pairs, I will put you with your own houses so that you can walk back to your common rooms together as well” she announced, her voice keeping its steady cadence. 

James nodded along with her, showing his solidarity. 

As she rounded out the meeting, he found himself awkwardly ruffling his hair. 

The room emptied and it was just the two of them. 

“So I guess were sharing a common room this year” Lily said, no smile on her face. 

James wanted a smile though. 

“Such a lucky bird Evans, sharing rooms with me? Girls would kill for the opportunity” he smirked. 

He noticed the slight curve of her lip and she tried to reign in a smile. Instead she rolled her eyes at him. 

“For the sake of this being our last year…” she paused, gulped and then tipped her head up in confidence, “I’m sorry about my behaviour last year, I wasn’t the nicest and um I guess I’ll try to be civil now that we're working together and I suppose living together…” 

James was astounded. Baffled. Completely turned over. 

“Right...nifty. Fine by me” was all he could come up with. 

She gave him a polite tight smile and then left. 

James had a feeling, he was going to be left feeling baffled more than once this year. 


	2. We’re not who we used to be

"Prongs! What's the go on the head's common room situation?"

James slid into the empty seat next to Remus. First breakfast back was always lavished with gooey caramel pancakes, runny eggs and crispy bacon. James piled his plate with a stack of pancakes, adding the sweet strawberry syrup that blessed his dreams.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, can we come visit?"

James swallowed a mouthful of strawberry stickiness and rolled his eyes at Sirius.

"I'm pretty sure the rules state that only head girl and boy are allowed in the head rooms," Remus adds, drizzling his pancakes with dark chocolate sauce.

"When do we ever follow the rules Moony" Sirius wiggles his eyebrows mischievously.

"So can we come visit tonight? I wanna start on this terms prank"

"Well it's not up to me is it? I do have a roommate now"

"He's replaced us Moony! Replaced us!" Sirius dramatically crashes his hands onto the table in front of him.

"He was always going to replace us with Lily, it just happened a lot sooner than we thought" Remus jabs, grinning at James.

"Shuddup" James says through a mouthful of sticky pancakes.

"Uh gross Potter, eat with your mouth closed" Lily chastises as she approaches the table and slips into the gap between Remus and Mary.

James goes bright red in embarrassment, and Sirius responds with his usual bellow of laughter.

"Evans, have I told you how beautiful you look today?" Sirius preens.

"What do you want?"

"Who says I want something? Can't I just compliment a beautiful woman?" Sirius cheekily grins.

Lily cocks one eyebrow, waiting for the real reason Sirius had randomly complimented her.

"Fine. I was hoping you would let us grace your common room tonight. Us Marauders miss Jamesy boy here"

Lily looked at James quickly, thoroughly amused by his nickname.

"Jamesy boy?" she bit down a laugh, but her eyes glowed with humour.

"No!" James bit back, clashing his cutlery down on the table in protest. "You will not call me that!"

"But Jamsey.." She whined. Her voice low and almost sultry, James couldn't help but shift in his seat in reaction.

"No."

Lily smirked at him while Sirius laughed loudly. Remus chuckled beside her and Peter carried on shoveling bacon into his mouth, thoroughly oblivious.

"Can we come visit if he allows you to call him Jamsey?" Sirius pressed, his smile wide and mischievous.

"Yes" Lily laughed back.

"Uhhhh" James groaned, burning his head into his hands.

Classes started in full force. Lily knew this year was going to be hard and would probably consist of mainly head duties and studying. But Double Potions on a Monday morning put her in a motivated and charming mood and she soon found herself feeling completely at ease and in a perfect rhythm.

As she diced a handful of Ginger, Marlene groaned wearily beside her.

"Can you please pass me the Billywig Wings? and then we need to let it simmer for 10 minutes"

Marlene grained again at Lily's request, and slumped herself over the desk to grab the wings..

"Mar, it's literally 10:30 in the morning, you should be wide awake by now" lily scolded as she waited impatiently for Marlene to help her.

"Lils, I've been sleeping in until at least noon for the last three months. Cut me some slack"

Lily rolled her eyes but focused on her brewing instead of Marlene's grouchiness.

"Mar, get off your arse and come check out James new plays for the team" Sirius called out from behind them.

The two boys were supposed to be brewing the day's potion, but they seemed to have other plans. Instead, they were both huddled over a parchment, keenly chatting about the years Quidditch tactics.

Lily quickly held out her arm to stop Marlene from getting up, causing the girl to fall back onto her stool with a humph.

"No. You're supposed to be helping me. This is our first day back, for crying out loud." Then she turned her scolding gaze to the two boys, "and you should be brewing your potion!"

Sirius put his elbows on the desk, cradling his chin in his palms and looking mischievously at Lily. James on the other hand looked less pleased and more surprised at Lily's outburst. This struck her as odd as she would always tell the Mauderers to get their act together.

"We're just waiting for it to simmer Evans, we have to wait ten minutes don't we?" James asked, cocking his eyebrow once he reigned in his shock.

Lily felt her blush flood her cheeks and she scrunched up her nose in annoyance. With a sigh she turned back her attention to her cauldron and tried to shake the voice of Ella scolding her for being so uptight and annoying from her head.

She had used the previous summer to let off some steam before her last year at Hogwarts. She knew that this year at school would be stressful and she initially told herself as well as Ella that that's what it was all about. Her adventurous out of character summer was just to let off some steam. By the end of the summer, Ella had convinced her that she should be using her last year at school to be a teenager as well and this had weighed heavily on Lily. She wasn't one to act like a teenager at school. School was for getting good grades and learning magic. That was fun to her. But when she turned 17 she realised that all the moments that a normal teenager had had. She hadn't had.

When she first met Ella, Ella was not shy in telling it like she saw. She told Lily that her reserved shy persona was keeping her limited. That her stubborn, impatient self was a setback in finding out who she really was underneath the books. Lily still wasn't sure about this but she often got her thoughts wandering towards the concept.

As she twirled the ladle around the cauldron full of steaming grey liquid, she made a promise to herself. She would try her best in lessons, study hard but she would also take the fun teenager-oriented opportunities when they came. This was put to test just hours later.

"Lils, Peter mentioned something about having a few first day drinks in the Heads common room tonight, would never have thought you would let them!" Marlene exclaimed, as she bounded towards the table in the Great Hall.

Lily paused in her motion to pick up her goblet for some juice.

"What!?" was her initial reaction.

Marlene grinned knowingly. She knew that Lily would never have allowed this.

"C'mon it's just a few drinks, were of age now and it's our last first day back ever!"

Lily had to bite her tongue so she wouldn't completely scream at Marlene. This went against every rule she painstakingly followed. The alcohol on campus, the fellow students in the Heads Common room, the Head Students allowing it!

"Since when are we friends with them?" She asked instead.

"I don't know if you noticed but last year we all started to hang out a lot more. You just blatantly ignored James and instead focused on chatting up his best mate"

"I was not chatting Remus up! He's my friend" Lily protested. She knew Marlene was kidding but she didn't like the insinuation that she only had Remus as a friend amongst the group.

"I know I was kidding, but still lets just all be civil this year. Please, you don't have to drink but please join in! For me?" Marlene pouted.

She was frustrated that her friend would even suggest breaking the rules on her first day of being Head Girl. But then, that wistful dreamy voice of Ella echoed through her thoughts.

She was being stubborn and close-minded. She was being boring and stuck up.

She didn't want to be those things anymore.

So, as promised, she breathed in heavily and gripped her goblet with a hard fist.

"Ok fine"

Marlene's mouth gaped, her blue eyes wide in shock.

"What has made Mar so speechless?" Mary asked, as she slid herself onto the bench beside her. She cocked an eyebrow at Lily and chuckled.

"I told her it was ok for us to have drinks tonight in the Heads common room to celebrate the last first day back as she put it" Lily mumbled, feeling her cheeks grow warm.

Then it was Mary's turn to look gob-smacked.

"Oh really? Is it that much of a shock? I can be fun sometimes!" Lily pleaded, thoroughly annoyed with the dramatic reaction she was getting.

"Oh I can't wait to tell the boys this" Marlene finally muttered, coming down from her shock. She rubbed her hands together excitedly and pushed herself from the table.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked.

"Got to find the boys, need to order some more booze" Marlene winked and skipped away.

Marlene found the boys huddled in the Gryffindor common room, surrounding a plate of dreamy choc chip cookies.

"That's a healthy lunch"

Sirius grinned at her, before shoving a delicious looking cookie straight into his gob.

"Boys, we have go ahead on tonight's drinks"

This made Sirius stop mid-crunch on his second cookie.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked from the floor.

"Lily said it's ok for us to have drinks tonight in their common room" she motioned to James who was lounging on one of the couches.

"Lily said it was ok?" Remus asked, his eyes wide.

Sirius had resorted to narrowing his eyes.

"There's no way Lily said it was ok"

"She did!" Marlene grinned widely.

"What happened to her over the summer?" James asked earnestly.

Marlene frowned at this, confused.

"She seems different that's all" he mumbled.

"Only you would notice shit like that Prongs, really?" Sirius teased.

James threw a cushion at his mates head.

"She made a new friend that was able to entice her to the ways of teenage exploration Potter! The things she got up to over the summer! Merlin, wish I was there!" Marlene said, her eyes glazing with wonder.

James didn't like this.

"Things?" he grunted.

"Oh yes, things." Marlene wiggled her eyebrows.

"Did our little Lily flower finally decide to become a woman?" Sirius straightened himself up in excitement.

"Ah that is not my delicious business to tell Black" Marlene announced, although her eyes glittered with gossipy humour and everyone knew she had.

James groaned.

He wasn't happy about this. Not at all. The sudden intrusive thought of Lily actually having a boyfriend pinged into his brain.

"Does she have a boyfriend?" was out of his mouth before he could catch it.

Marlene laughed and the boys all groaned.

"Really James, still? You would have thought after the summer you had you would be truly and utterly over her? That Emily didn't do it for you? Or was it Sarah? No it was Rosie! Have a thing for flower names don't you?" Marlene teased.

James narrowed his eyes at her.

"Does she though?"

"Not that I know of, pretty sure she had as much fun as you did. Maybe she took the James Potter way of life seriously over the summer" she grinned.

James felt very sick. The girls he saw over the summer were merely ways to pass the time. He only slept with one, and that was only once because he couldn't get Lily out of his head. She had ruined him and here she was galivanting across Surry with more boys then he had fingers. He felt completely and utterly torn apart.

"Prongs, do we have enough fire whiskey to also share amongst the girls? Do we need to go to Hogsmeade this afternoon?"

James snapped out of his melancholic state and nodded at Sirius.

Lily had no idea what she was doing.

Without Ella beside her, she felt like she was drowning in a pool full of heavy mud. Her thoughts were slow and her brain was cross-wired.

Their shared common room was small but big enough to house a large couch fit for four and two armchairs. A couple of them would have to lounge around on the floor near the fireplace. It had a warm cozy feel but Lily suddenly felt like turning on her heel and running as far away as she could.

Then she saw herself in the large gilded mirror that was placed across the fireplace and she winced.

She looked positively scared, and she had no reason to be.

It always started out like this with Ella and her friends, she always felt out of place and out of her depth but normally Ella would squeeze her arm and within minutes she would be engulfing her with her radiance and Lily would feel ok.

When Marlene came strutting into the room, she felt that deep dark sadness dissipate an inch. Marlene was fairly similar to Ella. She could inject her erratic energy into every situation, she was hopeful and loud and Lily felt herself gravitating towards her from the moment she met her. She was a little more mellow than Ella though, Marlene had a deep honest way about her, down to earth but altogether earth shattering. She was a contradiction and Lily adored her.

"Lils, you look positively ravishing tonight. I really do like those jeans on you"

Lily grinned, already feeling more relaxed than she did before.

"Where's Mary?"

"She is making herself look extra pretty tonight for the one and only Remus of course"

Mary had had a crush on Remus for years.

Lily laughed and flung herself onto the couch.

"The boys will be here shortly I assume" Marlene muttered, before settling herself in an armchair closest to the roaring fire.

"So, what's with the glow up Lils?"

Lily paused.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the new wardrobe, the shiny hair, the boys, the laissez faire attitude" Marlene waved her hand around drastically.

"Dunno what you mean"

"Well you look amazing and I'm glad you seem happy" Marlene smiled gracefully, her eyes gleaming with pride.

Lily smiled back shyly but her hands drifted to her jean-clad thighs and scratched nervously.

"She's right Evans, you look bloody delectable" a familiar deep voice echoed from behind her.

She twisted in her seat to find James Potter entering the room, behind him Peter was hauling a box of what looked like firewhiskey bottles.

Lily instantly blushed at James' gaze. It wasn't teasing like it usually was, but was heavy and seemed to make her sink into the plushness of the couch. She always opted to ignore James compliments, they were always dramatised and over-fed. But this compliment oozed confidence and sincerity. She tried to pull her eyes to Marlene, hoping to find something in those cool blue eyes to drench the fire that suddenly inflamed her bones. Instead she was met with curiosity and skepticism.

Something seemed to snap at Marlene's attention and her eyes flickered to behind the couch to where Lily could feel James dominating presence. As she listened to the two of them joke about Peter being James pack mule, Lily had to mediate her racing thoughts.

What the fuck was that?

She had no idea what just happened to her body but she stubbornly narrowed it down to being tired and being nervous about breaking a whole lot of rules tonight.

Luckily Mary galloped into the room soon after, tailing her was Remus and Sirius. Mary gleamed at Lily and Marlene and came to sit on the other side of Lily, poking her ribs in jest and teasing her about the worried look on her face.

Remus sat idly next to Mary, Peter sprawling out on the floor with Sirius and James...she twisted around to find James, curious as to where he went. Before she knew it, he had perched himself on the edge of the couch, draping his arm on the back just behind Lily.

She froze, her legs stiff, her back straight.

She knew from previous experience that a sip of some strong liquor would instantly calm her nerves and she reached out for the lone fire whiskey bottle on the coffee table in front of her and flicked the bottle cap off.

The whole room seemed to freeze.

Lily looked up to find everyone staring at her.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Did you just flick that bottle cap off?" Mary asked, her eyes sparkling.

A boy she had met over the summer taught her that little trick and she had come to find the act oddly fun. She hadn't realised she did it.

"Oh right, yeah?" Lily asked, confused.

Sirius broke the awkward silence with a bellow of his rough laughter.

"Fuck Evans, that was so cool and out of character, I'm pretty sure James over here nearly fell off the couch" Sirius laughed again.

Lily couldn't help but smile.

"We've never even seen you down a sip of alcohol and here you are flicking bottle caps off like no tomorrow" Sirius added, looking thoroughly impressed.

"Oh well Mike taught me how to do that at a party I went to last month" she explained, fiddling with the bottle cap.

"Mike?" Mary asked enthusiastically.

Lily looked to her side to find Mary looking at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah just a friend I made, he goes to college down the road from me" She muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed with all the attention on her.

She was used to attention around Ella and her mates but with her best friends and the Marauders? She was starting to feel weird and uncomfortable. The people in this room had known her since she was 11, she was studious, rule abiding Lily, they had no idea who she really could be.

"Who wants a drink?" She asked, hoping to get the attention elsewhere.

The night started out fairly casual and lax. Lily was hopeful that it was just a few drinks, some amiable conversation and a fairly early night. Once it hit 10pm she was itching to demand them all to bed. The overwhelming pressure of not screwing up her first day as Head Girl was itching at her brain. She really didn't want to push the boundaries of her new found responsibility but as she watched her friends grow louder she couldn't help but smile alongside them.

She was seventeen for merlin's sake, she should be having a few drinks and laughing with her friends.

"Who would have thought that us Marauders would be sitting here with these pretty girls in dear old Jamesy, our precious head boy's, common room?" Sirius grinned. His eyes were slightly glossy from the many tumblers of whiskey he had drunk.

"Who would have thought that the head boy and head girl would be James and Lily?" Remus smiled. He was relatively sober compared to the rest.

"Who would have thought that James and Lily would be sitting in the same room without screaming at each other?" Marlene chuckled, her head tilted back on the armchair she was still sitting in.

"Why is it so surprising to you all that I can have fun?" Lily pouted.

She had had enough drinks to make her feel mellow and calm. She knew her limit and she had stopped way before that, she wasn't keen on having a heaving hangover on her second day at school. She was still the responsible Lily Evans that all knew her to be, she just knew how to relax a little now.

"Because this time last year, you were yelling at us all to shut up and go to bed" James groaned.

He had pushed Lily to the side over the course of the night and had nestled himself comfortable next to her. His arm still resting on the couch beside her. Lily made sure to keep a wide distance from their thighs though, she didn't want him getting the wrong idea.

She was leaning against Mary at this point, her head dropped sleepily on her shoulder.

"I didn't have a good time last year," she mumbled.

She felt Mary stiffen and she immediately regretted mentioning her year from hell.

Mary and Marlene had gotten the brunt of her angst and depression. There were plenty of moments, in which Lily had argued and shouted at the two of them to leave her alone, she had spent half the year barely speaking to anyone and that included the two girls. The only way she would let out half of her feelings was when she was fighting with James. He seemed to rile her up like no other and she frequently sought that out over the years, grateful to have someone to unleash her pent up feelings onto.

James didn't know this though. He spent the last year thoroughly confused at Lily's rage and anger towards him.

"Tell me about it, every time I saw you you had something to nag at me about" James murmured beside her.

Lily pulled herself off Mary and gave James a fierce glare.

"There she is," he smiled.

That made it worse.

"Fuck off Potter" She said through gritted teeth.

All James did was lean his head back on the couch, close his eyes and smile.

Sirius laughed.

"He gets off on that you know"

Lily turned her glare to Sirius.

James must have also sent a glare towards Sirius because all Sirius did was laugh more.

"If you didn't hate him so much, I would have thought the tension obviously pulsating between the two of you was nothing but purely sexual" Marlene quipped.

This made Lily freeze.

What the fuck did that mean?

"Ugh gross, no thanks" was all Lily could come up with.

She didn't find it gross, but she was never going to admit that to anyone. She actually had always found James horribly attractive, it was his cockiness and immaturity she despised.

James chuckle made sharp shivers crawl down her spine but she blamed this on the whiskey.

"I'm going to remember that" was all he said.

She twisted her head to look at him properly, confused about his reaction. His hazel eyes were twinkling behind his glasses, his grin crooked and handsome.

"Remember what?"

"You saying I'm gross"

"Why would you want to remember that?"

"Because one day Evans, you're going to want me so bad that you're going to beg to see me without a shirt on"

While Lily fumed, her skin quickly growing hot with anger, everyone around her laughed and sniggered.

"I think its the other way round, Potter"

"What me begging you to take your shirt off? Well that's inevitable" he grinned, shameless and cocky.

She groaned as everyone laughed again.

"10 galleons that they will be pouncing on each other by the end of the year" Sirius said quietly to Marlene.

"I bet by Christmas" Marlene grinned.

Lily shot Marlene an almost deadly look as she shook his hand with a chuckle.

Mary could tell that Lily was edging on close to pure blind-raging fury, so she propped herself on the edge of the couch and declared a game of Never have I ever.

Lily buried her face in her hands as she remembered the last time she played the game.

She was stone cold sober by the end of it.

That would probably change now.

"But everyone actually has to have an ALCOHOLIC drink this time, no juice Evans" Sirius proclaimed, also remembering the last time they played.

She responded by furiously grabbing her empty cup and pouring a good shot or two of whiskey into it.

"I'm really enjoying this side of your Evans" Sirius preened from across the coffee table.

She smirked, fully relenting to the feel of the alcohol in her veins. She had been holding onto her level-headedness for about an hour now, but the alcohol had started to sweeten up her body, begging for the tension to be released.

"Alright ladies and gents. Never have I ever accidentally on purpose planned an incredibly genius prank that involved itching powder and Bubotubor pus" Sirius mischievously grinned as he took a gigantic gulp from his drink, Lily heard James also gulping down a mouthful, Peter soon followed and Remus with a groan, drank too.

"What did you do!?" Lily exclaimed.

"Was that the one you did last year in the prefect's bathroom?" Marlene laughed.

Peter grinned knowingly and confirmed.

"Thank god I have my own bath now" Lily groaned, thoroughly thankful that last year was not a bath-mood year.

"It's my bath too, Evans. But we can share" James winked.

She reached for the bottle of whiskey and filled up her cup more, pushing away the explicit images that had popped up in her head of her sharing a bathtub with James.

"Oh I have a good one! Never have I ever shared a shower with someone" Marlene took a prideful sip of her drink as her eyes danced around the group.

Sirius also drank and then lastly, but definitely not least, Mary drank.

Lily nearly dropped her cup.

"What?! When?" She gasped.

Mary's cheek grew such a flaming red, Lily thought she may faint.

"On holiday, with the French bloke" She mumbled, her eyes looking awkwardly into her cup.

Marlene was so excited she jumped up in the air and squealed for details.

Mary quickly hushed her and mumbled something about later.

Lily couldn't quite believe it, to have such intimacy with someone to share a shower and Mary had gotten there before her. She was envious.

"Mooney's turn!" Sirius announced.

Remus seemed sober as anything, even though Lily had sworn he had as many drinks as everyone here.

He tapped his fingers on his cup as he thought.

"You do realise you're supposed to start with a claim with something you yourself have never done, not the other way around!" He smartly pointed out, Sirius shrugged his shoulders and Marlene huffed.

"Ok, Never have I ever fooled around with more than two people in one week" Remus grinned, proudly not sipping, but his eyes pointedly wandered to Sirius and James.

But as James sipped begrudgingly, not proud of his actions and Sirius sipped proudly, no one was ready for Lily to take a sip also.

"NO FUCKING WAY" Marlene screamed.

"No" Mary exclaimed, shocked but eyes gleaming.

Lily heard James cough beside her and she couldn't help but be a little pleased with everyone's shocked reaction.

"Fucking hell, has Lily Evans been replaced? Who are you?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows.

"I am not proud of this but my summer was a little erratic" Lily supplied simply.

"There is so much I need to know" Marlene muttered excitedly.

"Can we move on?" Lily pressed.

"Ok your turn then Lily flower" Sirius offered.

Lily wanted to turn the attention elsewhere, she could feel James shock emanating like waves beside her. She even forced herself to listen closely for his breathing. Once she had established he was in fact breathing, she took her turn.

"Never have I ever had a crush on anyone in this group"

Marlene loved these type of confessions, so she was first to gasp at everyone that sipped.

Remus, Mary, James and even Sirius took a swig of the alcoholic drinks.

"Ok wait, I NEED to know who for each of you. I mean I know Mary and obviously James but Remus! Sirius! Who?!"

Sirius quickly answered.

"Remember that was past tense so it doesn't technically mean we have a crush on anyone currently" he quickly pointed out.

"Fine but who?" Marlene grunted.

Lily laughed.

Before Sirius could reply, Remus jumped in with a plain explanation.

"We all know Padfoot here has had a crush on anyone that's pretty and don't you remember my crush on Lily in first year?" Remus pointedly looked at Lily, and shrugged his apologies.

"Oh right yeah, that's boring. You just liked her because she was the only girl that talked to you." Marlene countered.

"Yeah sorry Lils, don't really see you that way anymore" Remus offered smiling sweetly.

Lily felt Mary relax beside her and a wave of sympathy rushed over her. She knew Remus didn't like Mary that way, but it must be hard to hear about his past crush on her best friend.

"What about you Black? Which one of us did you find pretty enough?" Lily asked.

"Everyone here is pretty enough for me Lils" he grinned back suavely.

While everyone laughed at Sirius, Lily remembered something Ella said to her one blazing hot afternoon when they were sucking on the pink swirled lollipops she had learnt to love.

"Be Honest, completely honest. I know you can be Lily, because when you are, everyone seems to gravitate towards you and drink you in."

She never liked being honest. She thought it caused too much drama and she preferred to be stubbornly honest in other ways, like telling people to shove off, or correcting them on their homework. But she knew Ella was talking about something deeper. Being honest about her feelings and thoughts, even if they didn't make sense to her.

So she drank.

James immediately clocked on.

"You thirsty Evans or is that a delayed reaction to the game" his smile was troublesome, his eyes were narrowed and knowing.

"Hmm, not sure" She muttered, smirking to herself.

She felt Mary press into her side and as Lily crossed her legs to stop the tension building in her stomach, Mary whispered in her ear.

"Was that really a drink for the game?"

"I really don't know," Lily honestly replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was more of a fun, easy chapter so I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think.


	3. Just let me adore you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Lily become accustomed to living in their shared dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please R&R! This is my first Jily fanfiction and I'm a little nervous about how its going. I wanted it to be a bit more lighthearted and fun that the usual ones you see so I hope its coming across like that.

James was absolutely flummoxed. Here he was sitting next to Lily Evans and laughing! The fire whiskey was helping his frayed nerves, the hot spice coating his taste buds was itching for his tongue to become loose. He was very much a talker when he was drunk, so he was currently biting his tongue to stop the sloppy words from slipping out. His fingers were also fidgeting to touch the smooth skin that was currently beckoning him from his left. 

Lily wasn’t close enough to him on the couch for him to accidentally touch but his eyes often drifted and he knew his hands could reach there if they wanted. She was currently laughing freely at a joke Marlene had just said, he could feel the couch beneath him shake as she leant forward and called Marlene out on something. 

“You said and I quote ‘I like your hair” Lily cried out, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. 

Marlene clucked her tongue, but a grin quickly formed on her face. 

“That basically means ‘I like you’” she whined, her grin turning bashful. 

“Wait, you like girls?” Peter asked, his cheeks pink and his tone shaky. 

The group laughed at Peter’s naivety but Marlene continued to pout. 

“But James likes Lily’s hair and he likes her?” Peter spoke up angrily amongst the laughter. 

This just caused the group to laugh louder, James however was scowling, not grateful that his crush on Lily was still being used as a joke. He also didn’t want Lily to know it was still true, he was now sharing rooms with her, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. 

Lily had turned her attention to James and James quickly covered his scowl with a sip of his whiskey. His eyes quickly darted to Marlene who was trying to reason her flirting tactics with Sirius. 

“No you have to compliment her and that's what I was doing. If someone compliments me, I automatically think oh they like me!” 

“Girls are so fucking weird. I compliment you all the time Marly, doesn't mean I want to fuck you” Sirius rolled his eyes. 

“As much as I really don’t want to admit this, Sirius is right, Mar” Lily spoke, her tone light. 

“Wait, wait! I want to remember that moment forever” Sirius preened, crossing his legs underneath him on the floor and staring straight at Lily, as if he was trying to commit the entire atmosphere to memory. 

“Fuck off Black, I mean, just because you compliment someone doesn’t mean you like them, it definitely doesn't mean you want to fuck them” 

James was still surprised by Lily’s way with curses. She was the only girl he knew that had as bad of a potty mouth as Sirius. 

“Then how do you know when someone likes you?” Marlene whined, directing her question to Sirius. 

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Because you’ve slept with more girls than anyone here?” She gave him an incredulous look that was almost always evident when she was around the Marauders. 

“How would you know that!?” 

“Well Remus isn’t the type to slide into just anyone's bed, Peter well no offence mate, I don’t even think I’ve seen you flirt with a girl, James here keeps me up to date with his body count and lets just say its dismal at best and Lils and Mary have only just realised boys exist” Marlene explained with a grin. 

Multiple complaints cried out at Marlene’s explanation, James felt his cheeks blaze so hot that he was sure they would stay red for hours. Lily and Mary swore while Remus laughed and Peter sulked. 

Sirius laughed at everyone's reaction but when he turned to face Marlene again he furrowed his eyebrows unimpressed. 

“In my defense, I see sex as purely a physical act that’s terribly fun. James is a corny romantic, Remus is stubborn and believes he can’t get close to anyone and Pete here is still learning, aint ya Pete?” 

Peter rolled his eyes but seemed to relax a bit more. 

“Why does everyone think I’m corny? I can have sex without being romantic!” James finally added. The booze in his system was finally to the point where he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. 

Sirius laughed loudly while the rest snickered. 

“I slept with whasahername and didn’t even really like her that much!” James slurred angrily. 

Remus chuckled.

“Her name was Rose” 

“Whateva, I wasn’t in love with her or anything and we had sex in a bathroom for crying out loud. That's not really very romantic!” he cried out, very unaware of the girls beaming grins. 

“Merlin Potter, you sure know how to show a girl a good time” Lily threw out. 

James froze, he completely forgot Lily was sitting right next to him hearing every embarrassing word he was slurring. He shrunk back into the couch and sipped on his drink. 

Sirius eyed James knowingly and decided to move the conversation on. 

“Marls darling, you know a girl likes you when she touches you more than she needs to, when she teases you in that sort of banterous flirty way and when you catch her staring at you when she thinks you’re not looking” 

Marlene raised one eyebrow. 

“Like how Lily right now is blatantly staring at James?” she said, her lips pulled into a tight line so she wouldn't laugh. 

James immediately turned his head towards Lily, catching her as she turns her attention towards Marlene. 

“Fuck off Marlene, I wasn’t” was all she said. 

James couldn’t help but smile. 

“Evans, I don’t blame you, I know I'm irresistible. It was going to happen sooner or later.” He teased. 

“In your dreams Potter” 

He smirked in reply. 

“See! That's flirting!” Sirius laughed. 

Lily groaned and buried her head in her hands. 

“I’m going to bed” 

“Can I join?” James couldn’t help but add. 

She groaned again and shot James a look that could kill. 

“Do you ever just stop?” she sighed. 

“Never” he grinned. 

He could have sworn that the corners of her lips turned up but she quickly shot up from the couch and headed towards her bedroom. 

“Night everyone” 

James watched as she disappeared behind her bedroom door and smiled to himself. 

“Prongs” Sirius warned, although a broad smile was plastered over his handsome face. 

James narrowed his eyes in response. 

\--

The next morning Lily gingerly forced herself to have a hot shower. The steam helped clear her head from the brain fog that was a side effect from the hangover potion she had sipped on before falling asleep. She very nearly knocked on James door to offer him some of her potion but she quickly remembered that last night was not out of the ordinary for him and that he had probably already had some. 

This was debunked when she emerged from the bathroom, her hair wet, dripping hot droplets down her back and under her school blouse, to find James slumped over on the couch, his head in his hands. He groaned, causing Lily’s body to freeze. 

She looked at him side on, his dark hair was messier than usual, his glasses shoved on top of his head as he rubbed his eyes. Suddenly she felt a sharp pang in her stomach. The rawness and ____ she was currently seeming him made her feel something entirely new. 

“You would have thought someone like you would keep a hangover potion handy, Potter” she cocked an eyebrow as her voice woke him from his groaning. He looked up, and pushed his glasses back on, covering the dark circles she had just spied. 

His eyes were wide as he took her in, her wet hair made the colour darker than usual, a drop of water was sliding down her throat and he had to keep himself from gulping loudly. 

“Shove off, Evans. We’re not all perfect like you” 

His patience was thin from his restless night, he wasn’t in the mood for Lily’s berating but once he realised Lily was truly just joking, he felt a pang of guilt. She winced at his remark but quickly narrowed her once sparkling eyes and puffed angrily before she turned on her heel and into her room. 

\-- 

Their first week as head boy and girl did not go as Lily planned. The first night with the Marauders, Mary and Marlene was obviously something of an anomaly. She had spent the week, repeating rules and regulations to James, dragging Sirius by the cuff of his shirt and rounding on Peter for acting twelve. The only person that seemed to take her head girl duties seriously was Remus. 

“Why couldn’t you just be Head Boy?” Lily complained for probably the seventeenth time that week. 

Remus grinned into his homework. 

“It’s like he’s not even trying! Did I tell you what he did today?” 

Remus tried not to roll his eyes.  
“He just strutted into the library, talking rather loudly might I add, about how he tricked some first year into chewing on some tooth-splintering gum. The poor boy had to spend the night in the infirmary growing back his molars!” 

Remus bit back a laugh. 

“It’s not funny!! He’s supposed to be Head Boy, he’s not twelve anymore!” Lily complained, showing her parchment down angrily. 

“Lils, this is James. He’s always going to be pranking someone, if he wasn’t there would be truly something wrong!” Remus found it hard to defend his best friend while also being on Lily’s good side. He loved them both, but sometimes he found Lily to be a bit too judgmental when it came to his mates. 

“He’s seventeen now, can’t he just snog some girl and that be his fun?” 

“Would you rather find him snogging some girl in your common room or find him pranking a first year? That first year probably has some street cred now anyway. They all love being pranked by James” 

Lily grimaced as she pictured James fondling some random girl on their couch. 

“I would rather him do his job” she pouted. 

“He is?” 

“No he’s not, he barely tells anyone off and he showed up late to this week's Prefect meeting! He makes me the bad cop and everyone runs from me now!” Lily whined. 

Remus laughed at this but quickly shut his mouth at the painfully evil look Lily had just given him. 

“You talk a lot about James” He murmured, finally getting exasperated with the topic. 

“Do not!” 

He raised his eyebrows at this. They had spent every spare moment in the library together, having taken the same classes this year, they found it was easier to spend their free periods studying together. Almost every single day this week consisted of Lily complaining about James’ head duties or James living behaviour in their shared rooms. 

“Yesterday you were complaining about how he leaves dirty mugs on the coffee table” Remus pointed out. 

“Well it's gross!” 

He sighed. 

“Speaking of the arrogant prick”  
James had just walked through the library doors, his robes billowing out behind him as he looked around for Remus. Lily’s breath caught a little, as his eyes found hers. 

Remus laughed lightly as he watched the two of them stare at each other.

“Yeah right, you ‘hate’ him” he muttered quietly. 

“What?” Lily hissed, narrowing her eyes at him. 

“Nothing” 

“Mooney, there you are! Afternoon Evans, you alright?” James was now standing opposite them, his hands gripping the back of the chair in front of him. 

Lily’s eyes instantly went to his hands, she could make out the veins as he gripped the wooden curve of the chair. She fidgeted nervously in her seat. 

Shaking her head she ignored James and turned her attention to her essay. 

James smirked, catching the way Lily’s eyes stubbornly refused to meet his. 

“Just told the others to meet outside my dorms tonight, all good with you?” 

Remus nodded. 

“Groovy. See you later Evans” he tipped his head to Lily, Lily’s eyes quickly darted to his but only for a second. 

“Yeah, right” she mumbled in reply. 

As Remus watched James saunter back out of the library, he pondered the interaction. James didn’t need to come and tell him that piece of information, but he had obviously known Lily was going to be with him. He also noticed the way Lily watched James as he walked in, it didn’t seem like she completely despised him as he originally thought. 

“Interesting” he mumbled. 

“What?” Lily demanded, noticing the way Remus’s eyes filled with curiosity. 

“Nothing” he smiled at his parchment, keenly aware that he might have stumbled upon something Lily wasn’t even aware of herself. 

\----

Lily was curled up on the couch of her common room, her hands hugging a steaming hot mug of tea, when James strolled out of his bedroom humming. 

He had his robes on, his hand carrying what looked like a blanket. Lily raised her eyebrows. 

“Where are you going?” 

James paused, realising that Lily was on the couch. He pushed his glasses up his nose and continued to walk past her.

“Out”

“Now?”

“Yes, now”

“But it's nearly curfew?’ she spat, annoyed at his blatant disregard for the rules. 

“Go to bed, Evans. I’ll be back before curfew. Just got to do something quickly for the boys” he muttered before pushing open the door and leaving her alone, with just her mug of tea and the roaring fire. 

This was how most of their interactions went. Short snippy comments, demanding questions from Lily and either exasperated replies or flirty remarks from James. She supposed it was better than the blown out arguments they used to get into but it wasn’t exactly friendly like they had been on their first night. She had boiled that down to the alcohol, the friendliness between their group was probably just because it was their first night back and the excitement of their own head common room to play in. 

Lily ended up pulling herself from the couch and going to bed. She wasn’t going to stay up to see if James got back in time. He was probably running off to snog some poor girl, she didn’t believe for one second he was helping the boys, whatever that meant. 

She woke up the next morning feeling dazed and in an almost drugged state. She had struggled to sleep for the first few hours and had only fallen into a deep sleep that morning. This meant, her brain was still trying to wake up and her movements were sluggish. She rubbed at her eyes and she made her way to the bathroom. She was still in the midst of waking up when she pushed the door open to find the room filled with steam. 

Opening her eyes a bit wider, she made out a silhouette of a broad shouldered bare-back. Noises started to finally register in her brain, the streaming sound of the shower and the sound of bare feet on tiles.

“Fuck!” Lily cried out, realising what had just happened. She quickly grappled onto the towel rack before she slammed straight into James. 

He had just stepped out of the shower and was in the process of drying himself with a large white towel. She could only see his back as the towel was currently wrapped around his lower body in a haste. 

“What the-” he spun round and found Lily, mouth wide open, eyes glazed. 

The steam was still drifting around the bathroom, causing Lily’s hair to slowly become frizzy. 

“Evans” James greeted with a smirk. 

“Shit, sorry. Didn’t realise you were in here” Lily couldn’t keep her eyes off his bare torso. She had no idea he was that lean and muscular. She figured it must be because of Quidditch and she suddenly realised why all the girls fawned over hot Quidditch players. 

“If you wanted to join, you could have just asked” 

Lily quickly pulled her eyes away and found James still smirking at her. He had obviously noticed her ogling him and her cheeks blazed from embarrassment. 

“Shut up your prick, I was half asleep and didn’t realise you were in here” 

She didn’t move though, she couldn’t. Her feet were glued to the tiled floor. 

“Your back has scratches on it” she managed to say. 

His eyes narrowed before he tried to twist his head to look at his own back. Realising he couldn’t possibly see, he tried to move himself in front of the mirror to take a glimpse. 

Two long ragged slashes were cut deep into his back. 

As he tried to examine the cuts, Lily felt her hands being pulled to the red marks curved into his muscular back. She skimmed her finger over the cut, the blood was dry but it looked a little swollen. 

James flinched as he felt Lily’s hand touch his skin. 

“Sorry” Lily whispered, realising she must have hurt him. 

“It doesn't hurt” 

Lily paused. 

“Right, I have some potion creams to help with that” 

James was staring at her in the mirror, his eyes soft and curious. 

“Yeah, that would be good thanks” 

Lily nodded, not taking her eyes off his back. Something in her body was drawn to his skin. She felt her heart racing as she took him in. He definitely wasn’t a boy anymore and something about that frightened her. 

A tight cough from James knocks her from her trance. With a quick nod and a dip of her head to cover her bright red cheeks she hurries out of the bathroom. 

James can’t quite believe what he’s seeing. 

The girl of his dreams staring at his bare body in such a fluster her cheeks were practically the same fiery red as her hair. He couldn’t help but blush also. Maybe he was dreaming? 

Instead he quickly picked up his clean boxers off the floor and pulled them on under his towel. He was shamelessly hard, and that was just because Lily had been making eyes at him when he was practically naked. 

He knew he would always feel differently about Lily than anyone else. It was like the brain pinged when he first saw her. Back then, when he was a measly eleven year old, he just thought he wanted to be her friend. It was like a magnetic force was pulling them together, he loved being near her, hearing what she had to say. It was just unlucky that the first time they were properly introduced, Sirius had pushed him into her and he had spilt his juice all over the poor girl. He was an eleven year old boy that had no idea how to make friends with a girl, so what did he do? He laughed. She had been out for him ever since. It was only in his fifth year, when his hormones became outrageously out of control, that he realised his attraction was physical as well as mental. He loved her mind, and had always thought it was spectacular, but when he started to really look at girls, that's when something in his brain snapped. Lily was breath-taking. He was so attracted to her sometimes, he had to mindfully calm himself down. 

And here he was in a bathroom, they shared, partially naked and her tending to his wounds. 

He was brushing his teeth when she walked back in, her hands clasped with a few bottles and a flannel. 

“I made these myself, but I’ve used them before and they’re all good. Do you mind?” 

She put the small bottles on the counter, and motioned to the flannel in her hand. He nodded, his mouth still occupied with his toothbrush. 

“One sec” he rinsed his mouth and chucked his toothbrush into the holder, before gripping onto the counter and baring his back to her. 

James was much taller than Lily but the scratches were nearer the lower end of his back. She leaned forward and wet the flannel under the tap, trying to contain her gasp as she brushed against James forearm. She had felt a small shiver pulsate through her arm as their skin made contact. 

As she cleaned his back a bit more thoroughly, scrubbing delicately at the dried blood, James couldn’t help but try to peep at look at her in the mirror. He had to strain his neck a little to watch her. 

Her cheeks were still tinged red, she was biting her lower lip as she cleaned the cuts. Every now and then she would press against his back with her free hand and he had to stop himself from being so obviously tense under her touch. His cock was growing harder by the second, it was every man's dream to be tended to be a beautiful woman. He fidgeted a little, trying to ease the tension between his legs, causing Lily to pause and look up worriedly. 

“Sorry, does this hurt?” 

This time it was his time to blush profusely. 

“No, no” 

She nodded, and got to work with pouring the potion cream into her palm. Her fingers scooped up a dollop and she went to work on applying the weirdly green substance to the wounds. Instantly, he felt a tingling sensation zig-zag across his back. 

“Woah” he mumbled, surprised at the sensation. 

“It’s already making the swelling go down, that's what it's for. With the other cream, the cuts will close, but there will be marks for a while” She mumbled. She was watching her hands stroke across the cuts, her eyes focused and her fingers light. 

“You should be a healer” 

Lily shot her eyes to his, in the mirror. She looked surprised. 

“Well that’s the plan” she gave him a tight smile. 

“I thought you wanted to be a Potions Master” 

Her eyes flickered to his again. 

“How do you know that?” she asked, her tone thoroughly surprised. 

“You told Remus a few years ago” 

“Right” 

“Why did you change your mind?” 

She continued to work on his cuts. 

“I thought a healer would be more beneficial in a time like this. I can still make Potions as I go but if I wanted to be a Potions Master, I would have to do a year in experimental assignments, and I think my time is used actually being helpful” She wouldn’t look at him again, instead she wiped her hands on the flannel and popped the lids on the bottles. 

“Don’t you have to do years of training to be a healer?” 

She looked up at this and actually smiled. 

“Dumbledore has had me training with Pomfrey for the last year and a half, so I’ve already done a few modules and exams”

“Shit Evans, that's impressive. You’re going to be like the youngest Healer ever” James couldn’t help but say.  
Lily blushed at this but shook her head. 

“I just think Dumbledore wants help when he needs it. By the sound of it, I probably won’t even be allowed to take up a position at St Mungos when I finish anyway.... I’ve been doing my training in secret, so can you not let anyone know?” Her eyes drifted down, a sullen expression now haunted her face. 

“Why wouldn't you get a position?”

“I’m a muggle-born Potter. Not sure if you’ve realised, but we’re not really the prime candidates for institutions under the Ministry” 

“That’s fucking bullshit!” James shouted, turning around and facing Lily. She stepped back at his outburst but she chuckled. 

“Yeah well, it doesn't matter. Maybe I can just help people on the side. It’s not like I’m doing it for money anyway. I’ll just get a muggle job to tide me over” She shrugged and piled her bottles into her hands and made to exit the bathroom. 

Before she got too far, James grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. 

“I’m sorry Evans” 

She wasn’t sure what he was saying sorry for, it could have been for a number of things. So she shrugged and pulled her wrist out of his grasp before it burnt her. She couldn’t handle more skin on skin with James, it was starting to melt her thoughts into one big ball of questions. 

“You’re back should be fine now. Please just tell me you didn’t hurt anyone to get that sort of injury?” She narrowed her eyes. 

He rolled his in response, there was the Evans he grew to love teasing. 

“No, it was just a prank on Sirius gone wrong” he lied, giving her a classic smirk. He pulled his fingers through his wet hair as he watched her exit the bathroom. 

He could only think of one thing when he watched her tend to him.


End file.
